MAHESH DATTANI'S DELINEATION OF WOMEN AS MARGINALIZED IDENTITY IN 'BRAVELY FOUGHT THE QUEEN'

Major themes of Mahesh Dattani’s plays are rooted in marginality of various sorts. His subjects are drawn from the complex matrix of modern Indian social set up. The worldwide postcolonial discourses in 1980s and 90s inspired Dattani’s concern for subjugated and marginalized sections that remained behind the gauze of the mainstream society. Their voices so far fell in deaf ear until through his plays the invisible and subdued issues of Indian society were brought on the surface of Indian stage as visible ones. The present paper unfolds diverse aspects of marginalized women in his play, Bravely Fought the Queen. A close study of Dattani’s plays gives us the impression that women, in spite of being doubly dispossessed, come out as powerful agents of the society at the end. The female characters in the present play have succeeded to startle and astonish the readers and spectators with their brave fight against oppression. All the characters in the drama are so widespread in our society and their issues evade our attention as we turn a blind eye to those issues because our society has held those as taboo.The powerful depiction of characters with very honest and close observation of Dattani’s scrutinizer eyes and the very deftness of his stagecraft in which the interior and the exterior are often dissolved into one have forced the spectators to rethink on the fringe issues while inducing a change of attitude toward women.